The OSSEC Effect
Many years ago, after I had been using OSSEC in an enterprise setting for a few months, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Administrators, many of whom I had forwarded “was this you?” alerts to, were now coming to me to rat on themselves.
I would be working away in my cubicle when someone would come up behind me. It went something like this:
“Hey, Mike. Just wanted to let you know what you’ll be seeing me <insert action here> in the logs. No cause for concern.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” I would reply.
The administrators knew they were being monitored, but didn’t exactly know the full details of the monitoring. They naturally assumed I would see what they were up to. In many cases I wouldn’t have known.
The vast majority of these folks were honest to begin with, but I can’t help think it assisted them in following process and being just a bit more transparent with what they were doing. Maybe it even dissuaded someone who was on the fence from doing something vindictive.
After seeing this in other environments, I think it deserves a term. At the risk of coining a term for something that has already been identified, I hereby declare this the “OSSEC Effect.” The definition (which could use some refinement) is as follows:
OSSEC Effect: The alteration of a computer user’s behavior when they know their actions are being monitored, but do not realize or understand the extent of the monitoring. Users will, without provocation, volunteer information they believe could be seen as questionable, whether the monitoring system would have known about it or not.